Apparatus for joining wires and the like by fusion



March 25, 1947. G, GlLLlVER I 2,417,819

APPARATUS FOR, JOINING WIRES AND THE LIKE BY FUSION Filed March 5, 19452 Sheets-Sheet l Inventor Altorney March 25, 1947. GILLWER 2,417,819

APPARATUS FOR JOINING WIRES AND THE LIKE BY FUSION Filed March 5, 1945 2Sheets-Sheet 2 F/G? F/G.4.

T ,3 I I I By v Attorney Patented Mar. 25, 1947 APPARATUS FOR JOININGWIRES AND THE LIKE BY FUSION Gilbert Gilliver, London, England, assignorto Standard Telephones and Cables Limited, London, England, a Britishcompany Application March 5, 1945, Serial No. 581,122 In Great BritainMarch 20, 1944 9 Claims.

. This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for the joining ofwires and the like by fusion, and has for its main object to provide animproved construction of hand tool employing the principles embodied inBritish application No. 13849/42.

The tool may consist of two castings or mouldings which are clampedtogether to form a handle. These parts are recessed and shaped toprovide accommodation for two side plates at the top, a moulded trigger,pawl, and restoring spring, in the centre, a Contact spring, and theconnecting cable at the bottom.

One side plate insulated from the handle has an aperture through whichthe wires to be jointed are passed and pressed against a carbonelectrode carried on. a sprin support housed by the other side plate,the wires being pressed in until the carbon block is pressed back to themaximum extent. The trigger, which carries a clamping spring, a quickrelease pawl for the contact spring housed in the lower part of thehandle, a contact screw and a restoring spring is pivoted on a pin whichis located by bearing holes in the two parts of the handle. When thetrigger is depressed it first of all clamps the inserted wires betweenthe clamping spring and an anvil provided at one side of the aperture ofthe side plate, and then by means of the pawl releases the movablecntact spring which makes contact with the contact screw in the trigger,completes the circuit and fuses the ends of the wires pressed againstthe carbon block. This automatically opens the circuit, the trigger isreleased and the wires, now headed by the fuse weld, are withdrawn.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figs. 1 and 2 are external side and front views of the assembled tool;

Fig. 3 is a front View with one half of the handle removed; and

Fig. 4 is a side view as Fig. 1, but with a por tion in section to showthe method of terminating one wire of the cable.

Figs. 1 and 2 show views of the completely assembled tool, the twocastings or mouldings l, 2, are clamped and held together by the screwsand nuts at .i, 4 and 5. Screws and nuts i and 5 also secure the twoside plates and 1.

Side plate 6 has an aperture 8 for the insertion of the wires to bejointed, and these are pressed against the anvil ii, by the clampingspring iii, which is carried on the trigger ll. Side plate ii isinsulated from the handle by plate 33 and bushes 34.

Side plate I clamps the spring I2, carrying the.

carbon electrode 13, which is so mounted on the spring as to be readilyreplaceable. The two parts i and 2 also clamp the connecting cable [4.

A window i5, is retained in position by the side plates 6 and l toprevent splashes from the welding operation from reaching the operator.

In Fig. 3 handle part l has been removed to show the internalarrangement,

The moulded trigger II is pivoted by pin [6, which also pivots the pawlll of insulating material for operating the contact spring IS. Thetrigger it carries the clamping spring l5 secured by the contact screwI9, and has a slot 2i], which in conjunction with pin 2'! limits themovement of the trigger it, which is restored by spring 22, located bypin 23, spring 22 being retained in position when the two halves of thehandle are clamped together.

Side plates 6 and I have suitably shaped wire guides 24 welded to themto accommodate the window l5; and anvil 9 is secured to side plate 6 bythe screws 25, 26.

Spring I8 is secured to and insulated from the handle 2 by screws 21,28, and insulating plates 25!.

Spring has a bush 30 riveted to it, which is drilled to take one leadfrom the cable It, clamped the bush by grub screw 3| the other Wire fromthe cable It is terminated in a circular clamping washer 32 and clampedbetween bosses on the two halves of the handle by screw and nut 3 asshown in Fig. 4.

Carbon electrode l3 may be slidably mounted on the spring l2 so that itcan be moved up and down or reversed, or readily replaced, withoutdisassembling the tool.

Anvil 9 may be replaced in position by removing the screws 25, 25.

Other working parts, viz: side plates 6 and I and window l5, may bereplaced by removing screws and nuts 4 and 5.

Finally, contact screw 19, contact spring l8, pawl ll, trigger ll,restoring spring 22, and cable it may be replaced by removing screws 3,4 and 5.

In operation, the wires t be jointed, are cleaned, preferably twistedtogether, the ends cut parallel, if necessary, inserted through aperture8 and pressed against carbon electrode I3, holding spring [2 for thecarbon electrode being pressed back against the side plate 1. Trigger 1l is then compressed, the clamping spring iii first clamps the wiresagainst the anvil ti and then the pawl l1 releases spring IS, thecontacts make, the circuit is completed, a bead is formed on the wiresat or near the surface of the carbon electrode and this automaticallyopens the circuit. The trigger is then released and the wires withdrawn.

It will be observed that the aperture 8 is rhombold shaped so that thewires are directed positively towards the inclined anvil by the actionof the clamping spring II]. In the example described the handle parts Iand 2 are of metal and the circuit includes these parts to which thecarbon electrode [3 is electrically connected through spring I2 whereasthe remainder of the circuit is through spring l8 contact I9 clampingspring I and anvil 3 which are suitably insulated from the metal handleparts.

The term wires and the like as used in this specification is intended tocover circular wires or flat strips such as terminal tags or the likeand the wires may be stranded in the form of flex. The apparatusaccording to this invention is particularly advantageous in joiningfairly thick wires, for example, 20-30 S. W. G. or for joining suchwires to terminal tags or strips.

What is claimed is:

1. A hand tool for joining wire and the like by fusion comprising incombination a casing forming a handle, a pair of plates mounted on saidcasing in spaced relation and insulated one from the other, a springmounted carbon electrode located within the space between said plates,said electrode being adjacent one of said plates and movable towards andaway from an aperture in the other plate, a trigger lever pivotallysupported in said casing, a clamping spring on said trigger leverpositioned to move across said aperture and means for connecting anelectric circuit to said electrode and said clamping spring.

2. A hand tool according to claim 1 wherein a boss or projection isprovided on the plate along one edge of the aperture to provide an anvilfor co-operation with said clamping spring.

3. A hand tool according to claim 1 wherein the trigger lever isoperatively connected with a pawl or cam arranged to operate a switchcontact spring in the casing, said switch contact spring being arrangedto co-operate with a contact connected with the clamping spring.

4. A hand tool according to claim 1 wherein .4 the carbon electrode isslidably mounted on a. spring supporting member secured between theadjacent plate and the casing.

5. A hand tool according to claim 1 wherein a protective shield in theform of a window is provided between said plates.

6. A hand tool acording to claim 1 wherein the casing comprises twomoulded or cast parts between which the trigger lever and associatedparts are assembled and the plates are secured at one end of said parts.

7. A hand tool for joining wires and the like by fusion comprising twocasing portions supporting opposed side plates insulated from eachother, a trigger pivotally supported on the casing portions, a clampingspring movable with the trigger, an electrode supported by one of theside plates, an anvil supported by the other of said plates andpositioned to co-act with the clamping spring in clamping of the work, acontact mounted on the trigger and electrically connected to theclamping spring, a resilient contact supported in position forengagement with the trigger contact, a pawl movable with the trigger andengaged by the resilient contact to time the closing of the lattersubsequent to the clamping of the work and means for connecting anelectric circuit to said electrode and to said resilient contact.

8. A hand tool according to claim 7 wherein the electrode is yieldinglysupported to be movable toward the opposite plate.

9. A hand tool according to claim 7 wherein the electrode is a carbonelectrode and is yieldingly supported to be movable toward the oppositeplate and wherein the latter is formed with an opening for the receptionof the work in position to engage the anvil.

GILBERT GILLIVER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,639,688 Duncan Aug. 23, 19271,897,606 Cole et a1 Feb. 14, 1933

